Hayden Grabs Fighting Third In Italian Thriller

MotoGP provided one of the best races so far seen this season in front of a passionate 89,000-strong crowd at Mugello. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) won from Loris Capirossi (Ducati) with Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) a tenacious third.

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden

After intermittent rain over the first two days of this Grand Prix race day was bright for the most part and despite drops of rain falling during the 250cc race, the main event remained dry to provide enthralling racing over 23-laps of this magnificent 5.245km course.

Sete Gibernau (Ducati) led from pole into turn one with Rossi hard on his tail and Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) in third who got a flier of a start from row two. Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) was up there in fourth with Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V) in tow in fifth.

Melandri made an early move to set the pace on lap four and squeezed past Rossi to take second place. While places were changing hands at the front Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) set an early fastest lap of the race at 1m 50.300s as he tried to move up from seventh.

As Rossi hit the front on lap seven, Capirossi was making up for his poor start by setting a fastest lap of 1m 50.195s as he fought to get on terms with the front-men from seventh place on that lap. Rossi and Gibernau meanwhile had stretched out a 1.2 second lead over Hayden in third.

Stoner who was holding fourth place then crashed out of the race on lap nine. It was a big off and the young Aussie, although unscathed, went for a precautionary medical check. Capirossi meanwhile was closing relentlessly on the leading riders.

The experienced Italian was fourth on lap 11, third by lap 13, and then on lap 15 he slipped inside both Rossi and Gibernau to head the pack as the lead duo both went wide at turn one. There was now a six-rider bunch in close formation at the front and the action would get more furious yet.

As Gibnernau dropped back it was Capirossi and Hayden at the front until Rossi made a move for second at the downhill chicane. Melandri meanwhile ran wide and out of the running for a possible podium place. As the final laps counted down the fight at the front became a three-way affair as Pedrosa lost contact in fourth with Gibernau behind him.

Rossi took the lead on the penultimate lap, again at the high-speed downhill chicane, but on the final lap into turn one Capirossi outbraked the reigning champ until he ran wide allowing Rossi to re-pass. Hayden, try as he might, could not quite make enough ground to challenge either of them and third place had to be consolation for a gritty ride.

Dani finished fourth and Melandri sixth with his team-mate Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) in seventh. But Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) had a great ride to eighth, using a new chassis on the KR machine, ahead of Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) in ninth.

Nicky said, “It was a good battle and everybody was out for blood today. I’ve had a few hard battles like that for seventh but it’s fun when it’s for the lead. Everyone was trying hard but nobody did anything too crazy. Melandri came up under me one time and I got into the corner hotter than I had all weekend – and he was in two bikes hotter than me so I didn’t think he was going to keep it on the island. With the atmosphere here and the crowd, these are the days you really enjoy.”

Dani was happy enough with fourth and said, “Today was a good race for me – I’m happy with the result because this track is very tiring to ride and I was expecting to lose more time on the leaders. So I’m happy because being only two seconds behind the winner at my first time on a MotoGP bike at Mugello is perfect for me. We had some problems with the settings during the race, especially in the last ten laps, but it’s not serious and is something we can fix.”

Melandri said, “I knew it would be a long and hard race from the off so I tried to take it easy early on, although I stayed with the lead riders. By the end I was pushing very hard and, when I was battling Nicky Hayden for third, I made a mistake which put me back to sixth, well behind the lead group. It was a shame as I would have loved to have got a podium for these great fans.”

Elias said, “I am quite satisfied as I started in 12th and finished seventh in the end. Tomorrow I hope that the weather is kind to us and that we are able to stay at the circuit to do some testing. I am really looking forward to racing in front of my home fans in the next round.”

“We are getting closer now,” said Kenny. “This is the first time I’ve felt the bike doing what we need it to. I’m really pleased for the team. Everybody has worked real hard on this project. Basically we were making changes to the bike but we were not getting the results we wanted. At China we sat down with Honda and got a few suggestions, and together with our own theories, we built the chassis we raced today.”

Tamada said, “Today the temperature definitely rose and we had to revise our race tyre choice. Unfortunately I had little rear tyre grip and this stopped me staying in touch with the leaders. In the end, I tried to force the pace to re-pass Elias and Roberts but I did not have enough confidence to be aggressive enough.”

“I feel a little average," said Casey.“My neck is quite sore but there is no problem. Unfortunately I made a small mistake and the front-end went on a bump. I was a little frustrated by Melandri holding me up – he was very hard on the brakes. But there are lots of positives because I was very competitive here.”

Nicky and Loris Capirossi are now joint leaders of the World Championhsip with 99 points apiece. Melandri lies third with 89 and Dani is in close contention with 86. Rossi shares fifth with Stoner, both men on 65 points each.

Takahashi got the holeshot into turn one and led through the first few turns before Lorenzo took the lead closely followed by Dovi. Within four laps a seven-rider lead group had established itself at the front.

At the mid-way point Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) looked strong as he took up the front-running duties from Lorenzo. With the eight-placed rider nearly 15 seconds behind the lead group, the finish looked as if it might be a messy affair as the final laps loomed.

But with two laps to go of this 21-lap race, de Angelis, Dovi, Lorenzo and Takahashi left Alex Debon and Marco Simoncelli (both Aprilia) in their wake as they fought for position for the crucial drive out of the final turn on the final lap.

Lorenzo led the final lap until de Angelis swept past him, but then the San Marinese man ran wide on the last bend allowing Lorenzo back into the lead, Dovi too dived inside but the two Aprilias had the speed to cross the line first and second.

Dovi said, “I really couldn’t do better than this today! I was recovering in the braking points and in the curves what I lost on the straights. It was difficult to beat Aprilia here with a finish-line that is very far from the last curve. I did my best trying to pass De Angelis at the ‘Bucine’, but I didn’t get it. I’m happy about this podium as it strengths my lead in the World Championship, but I want to win.”

“I made a very good start as always this season,” said Takahashi. “At the beginning, Lorenzo overtook me and I followed him, but then the other riders caught us and so I tried to stay with the top group until the last lap. Here the Aprilias were very fast and, also, Dovizioso had a good pace. Anyway, fourth place is a good result at this fast track.”

Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) finished ninth and said, “I didn’t make a bad start, I think I recovered one position at the end of the straight, but I made a mistake so I was tenth after the first lap, more than two seconds behind the leading group. It’s a shame because I was hoping to have another race like Le Mans.”

Fabrizio Perren (Stop And Go Racing Honda RS250RW), who finished 15th in his first race on a 250, said, “My objective was to ride out the race and gain experience on the bike. My start was not too special and another rider ran into the back of me at turn one. After that I raced alone. The group ahead of me, Tizon and Porto I think, were just a few seconds ahead of me. I could run the same times as them but I could not catch them. I have to thank the team for all the work they did for me this weekend.”

With six rounds gone the World Championship points table shows Dovi in charge on 108 points to Lorenzo’s 88. Takahashi now lies third on 80 with Hector Barbera fourth overall on 78. Barbera failed to finish this race due to machine failure.

Italian Mattia Pasini won the 125cc race from his team-mate and series points leader Alvaro Bautista (both Aprilia) by one thousandth of a second with Czech rider Lukas Pesek (Derbi) third.

Two of Honda’s main hopes in this class were riding injured at this race: Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R) injured a shoulder while engaged in on-bike promotional work, while Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) broke a collarbone testing last weekend and rode with the bone plated. They finished eighth and ninth.

The man most likely to feature in the results here was Fabrizio Lai (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) who started on the front row and held second place on the opening lap before dropping down the field as the 20-lap race unfolded to eventually finish 11th.

Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) finished a very creditable 19th in a 43-rider field at a track the 15-year-old only saw for the first time this weekend.

Talmacsi said, “I did my best with this bike. Unfortunately, Luthi, Corsi and I passed several times each other and this slowed us down losing space with the front group. Then, in the last three laps I just pushed as hard as I could in order to finish in front of my group. It was a difficult race for me, we have to improve in the general settings of the bike.”

Luthi said, “My start was so-so, but I made up a lot of places braking for the first turn. I felt I could run faster than the group I was in but every time I tried to break away Corsi outbraked me into a turn and slowed us both. He should have stayed behind me and we would both have gone forward. On the last lap he got in my way and that let Talmacsi past.”

The World Championship points table now shows Bautista leading with 119 points, Mika Kallio (KTM), who finished sixth here, lying second with 88 points and today’s winner Pasini third on 74. Reigning World Champion Luthi is currently eighth with 44.

Toni Elias

Kenny Roberts Jnr

MotoGP:

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd:
“After Le Mans I needed to come back this weekend and answer the bell, and today I did that. I didn’t help myself with the start - I mean there’s no excuses for getting a start like that! Regardless, it was a good battle and everybody was out for blood today. I’ve had a few hard battles like that for seventh but it’s fun when it’s for the lead. Everyone was trying hard but nobody did anything too crazy. Melandri came up under me one time and I got into the corner hotter than I had all weekend - and he was in two bikes hotter than me so I didn’t think he was going to keep it on the island. With the atmosphere here and the crowd, these are the days you really enjoy. Towards the end I was on the leaders and I actually felt a little bit stronger so I thought I might be able to try and spoil it for them a little bit. But there’s no excuses today - I didn’t get it done. Thanks to the Repsol Honda Team. We made some big changes on Friday which helped me a lot. Now the season has really started, we know who’s going to be there every week and it’s starting to get good. We’re coming to a few tracks I really like and tomorrow we’ll do some testing which should help. I’m having fun but I definitely want to win some races along the way.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th:
“Today was a good race for me – I’m happy with the result because this track is very tiring to ride and I was expecting to lose more time on the leaders. So I’m happy because being only two seconds behind the winner at my first time on a MotoGP bike at Mugello is perfect for me. We had some problems with the settings during the race , especially in the last ten laps, but it’s not serious and is something we can fix. I was always behind the pack watching what was going on rather than being in the middle of the battle. I’m looking forward to watching it on TV because I know Capirossi was sliding a lot. I got fourth and I’m quite happy.”

Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 6th:
"I knew it would be a long and hard race from the off so I tried to take it easy early on, although I stayed with the lead riders. My bike was a little slower in changing direction and so tried to make up some time on the braking. By the end I was pushing very hard and, as I was battling Nicky Hayden for third, I made a mistake which put me back to sixth, well behind the lead group. It was a shame as I would have loved to have got a podium for these great fans."

Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 7th:
"I have the potential to be getting better results but am being troubled by a traction problem. After qualifying yesterday myself and the team decided to make a radical change to the set-up of the bike and that made a real difference. I am quite satisfied as I started in 12th and finished seventh in the end. Tomorrow I hope that the weather is kind to us and that we are able to stay at the circuit to do some testing. I am really looking forward to racing in front of my home fans in the next round."
Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 8th:
“We are getting closer now. This is the first time I have felt the bike doing what we need it to. It was good to be racing again we were all so close that not one of us could break out of the group and getaway. I’m really pleased for the team, everybody has worked real hard on this project. Basically we were making changes to the bike but we were not getting the results we wanted. At China we sat down with Honda and got a few suggestions from and together with our own theories we built the chassis we raced today. We were half-way there at Le Mans and we’re closer now but we have to work a bit more on stability under braking and I have to work on my pace early in the race, its not fast enough. Give us two more races and we will be even better.”

Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 9th: “Today the temperature definitely rose and we had to revise our decisions regarding the racing tyre. Unfortunately I had a little rear tyre grip and this impeded me to try to stay in touch with the leaders. In the end, I tried to force the rhythm to overpass Elias and Roberts but I did not have enough trust to try to be more aggressive.”

Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: dnf – crash
“I feel a little average, my neck is quite sore but I’ve had it checked out at the medical centre and there is no problem. Unfortunately I made a small mistake, I lost the front and then I got it pulled back, but then the bike got nervous and the front-end went again on a bump. I was frustrated by Melandri holding me up, he was very hard on the brakes but overall I’m happy -- there are lot of positives because I was very competitive with the top Italian riders on their home track and running a fast pace up front .”

250cc:

Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 3rd: “I really couldn’t do better than this today! I was recovering in the braking points and in the curves what I lost in the straights. It was difficult to beat Aprilia here with the finish-line that is very far from the last curve. I did my best trying to pass De Angelis at the ‘Bucine’, but I didn’t get it. I’m happy about this podium as it strengths my gap in the championship, but I want to win. It’s the first time here at Mugello and for sure is a great emotion, but it’s a shame I can’t fight for the victory. I want to thank my team as the bike was okay and my fan club that supported me during the all weekend.”
Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda: 4th:
“I made a very good start as always this season. At the beginning, Lorenzo overtook me and I followed him, but then the other riders caught us and so I tried to stay with the top group until the last lap. Here Aprilias were very fast and, also, Dovizioso had a good pace. Anyway, the fourth place is a good result in this fast track.”

Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 9th:
“I didn’t make a bad start, I think that I recovered one position at the end of the straight, but I made a mistake so I was tenth after the first lap, more than two seconds behind the leading group. That’s where my fight for the leading positions ended; there was nothing I could do to get closer to the lead. It’s a shame because I was hoping to make again a race like in Le Mans.”

Sebastian Porto, Repsol Honda: 13th:
“Complicated. The truth is that it is a difficult situation. Considering the weekend, being in the scoring area isn’t bad, but as always, it’s not what I’m looking for. We’ve really been far back this weekend. We knew that it would be more complicated here because it’s a difficult circuit, very technical and if you have problems it gets worse. But the truth is that I’m very angry, because there are more problems than normal, and the situation is a bit difficult. So now I have to calm down and wait if there are new things to test, because if we go on like this it will be very difficult, we haven’t found the way and I think it’s going to be difficult to improve in the future like this, so now we have to see where we can improve.”

Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 14th:
“I got a good start but at the end of the straight on the first lap Hiro Aoyama hit me and pushed me wide. I managed to catch Porto and the two of us rode out the race together, we couldn’t catch the group ahead of us. The bike was very good today, it handled well and I had good speed.”
Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 15th:
“I am very, very happy with my race, it was my first ever in 250. My objective was to ride out the race and gain experience on the bike. My start was not too special and another rider ran into the back of me at turn one. After that I raced alone. The group ahead of me, Tizon and Porto I think, were just a few seconds ahead of me. I could run the same times as them but I could not catch them. I have to thank the team for all the work they did for me this weekend.”

Martin Cardenas, Wurth Honda BQR: dnf – crash:
“I’m very disappointed I was running a good race, on 11th place but with three laps to go I lost the front end and crashed out. It’s a pity because everything was running so good. I did make a small mistake early in the race that lost me the slipstream of the group in front but I recovered fro that to work my way back into the race.”

Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: dnf – crash:
“This has been a bad weekend for us all round. Practice was bad but the team gave me a good bike for the race. I was about 12th at the fist corner but when I got to the first right-hander after the fast corner I gave it too my gas and was high sided off the bike.”

125cc:

Gabor Talmacsi, Humangest Honda: 8th:
“I did my best with this bike. Unfortunately, Luthi, Corsi and I passed several times each other and this slowed us down loosing space with the front group. Then, in the last three laps I just thought to push as hard as I could in order to finish in front of my group. It was a difficult race for me, we have to improve in the general settings of the bike.”

Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 9th:
“My start was so – so but I made up a lot of places braking for the first turn. I felt I could run faster than the group I was in but every time I tried to brake away Corsi out braked me into a turn and slowed us both. He should have stayed behind me and we would both have gone forward. On the last lap he got in my way and that let Talmacsi pass me.

Fabrizio Lai, Seedorf Racing World: 11th:
“Looking back at yesterday something strange happened, probably the higher temperature today robbed the engine of power. In qualifying yesterday my Honda accelerated very fast I set my qualifying time easily. We have to look for what happened and prepare for Catalunya.”

Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 19th: “Starting from thirty-second didn’t do me any favor but we made a good start. I followed Olive along the first corner and we went really wide, maybe I lost a bit of time there but it wasn’t possible to get to the inside so that was the option. Then I made a mistake; I pushed hard in the first laps trying to pass some people and braked too late into the first corner. The back end came up and I nearly went in the grass so it was difficult to turn and get back. I lost the contact to the second group, the big group, and then I went on the race on my own. I just tried to do consistent lap times but it is difficult when you’re on your own. Nineteenth is something you should be happy but I’m not happy. I still want to be in the top fifteen and I want to be fighting for higher positions. I’m looking forward to Catalunya, because it’s a track I’ve been to and we’ll have more time to test and try different things.”

Hiroaki Kuzuhara, Seedorf Racing World, 20th: “If I had started one row ahead of my grid place I would have made the top 15. The bike was not perfect today but I could keep the pace of the group I was racing in.”
Michele Conti, Seedorf Racing World: 29th:
“I had a problem with the motor probably electrical. The bike was running god on the warm up lap but in the race the engine just stopped coming off a corner.”

Sandro Cortese, Elit Honda: dnf – crash:
“My start was not so bad and I was running okay in the second group. But as the race went on I started sliding badly and with about seven laps to go I had a huge slide and was high-sided and the race was finished.”
Lorenzo Baroni, Humangest Honda: dnf :
“In the warm-up lap I suddenly realized that something was wrong with my bike. At the start, then, the clutch burnt and I had to retire after few laps. It’s a shame, because I would have liked to finish at least the race in front of all these incredible spectators.”

Mike Di Meglio, FFM Honda: dnf – crash:
“This morning I was satisfied of the chassis of the bike; the engine was a bit better but it wasn’t yet perfect. I didn’t start very well but I rejoined in 15th position and I saw quickly that I couldn’t follow. My machine accelerated quite well but there was a lack in speed limit and each lap in the straight line all the rider of the group overtook me. I stayed the entire race with Koyama and Zanetti, fighting for points and in the last lap I wanted to arrive first of this group but I made a mistake and then I crashed. Even if I’m a bit disappointed I could improve my lap time, made in qualifying practice, during the race of three tenth. We didn’t ride enough on dry track since the beginning of the season and I hope that in Barcelona we will be able to ride in good weather conditions.
Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: dnf – engine problem:
“My start was not so bad and I held my position but after a few laps my rear tyre was sliding and I lost a few places. Then my engine lost power and I could not stay in the slipstream of the rides in my group. With five laps to go the engine stopped at the end of the long straight. We don’t know why yet.”

Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: dnf – damaged exhaust pipe:
“Its a pity my race ended the way it did because I got a great start. The set up was god and the engine was fast and I felt I was riding really well but the clutch was playing up and it was difficult to change gear. Then on the fourth lap I got hit from behind, by Grotzkyj I think, and I had to run straight across the run off. I didn’t crash but my exhaust pipe was broken and my race was over.”